Ninja Stan wrote...
When people tell BioWare to "learn" from their mistakes, the lesson is usually "always please everyone all the time" or "never do anything that any of your customers disagree with," which is an impossible request. This community is here for gamers/fans/customers to provide feedback to the development team, and BioWare has always appreciated constructive criticism, but y'all can understand, I hope, that the vociferous screaming and gnashing of teeth, the threats, the conflicting demands, the calls for people's firing, and the hate is not only not constructive, but does contribute to the idea that the community feels entitled to love everything that BioWare releases.
Being a fairweather fan, assigning "blame" for products you disagree with or don't like, and parroting the latest meme (some of which were, frankly, highly inappropriate), review bombing, and the insistence on BioWare communicating more and subsequent lambasting of that communication send very mixed messages. On the one hand, yes, BioWare understands that customers and fans can get extremely emotional and passionate about their games, characters, and worlds. That's awesome! It shows that BioWare has done a good thing and made a good setting in which to play. On the other hand, the abuse leveled at everyone from developers, the publisher, community managers, and PR/marketing show that people weren't interested in discussion, only in venting and raging. And then people are surprised when BioWare didn't want to subject themselves to that.
Sure, I agree that maybe BioWare needs to change the way they communicate with the fanbase in the lead-up to game releases, and sure, I agree that the community is deserving of more acknowledgement when it comes to them providing suggestions and feedback as to what they want to see in future projects. But on the flip side, the community also needs to "man up" and realize that game development is not a democracy, and that, while they have $60 at risk, game developers and publisher are banking millions of dollars and their professional reputations, and sometimes their very livelihood, on the success of the next project. Some folks around here could stand to cut the developers--and I assure you, none of them are rolling in piles of money; they are doing a job just like everyone else, a job they have great passion for--just the teeniest bit of slack.
(Before you jump all over me, note that I am no longer with the company, but those are my friends and former colleagues you are calling incompetent, greedy, lazy, uncaring, and stupid, and I won't stand for that.)
Thanks for reading my rant.
I could support this sentiment. One must realize that a company isn't any one individual. And while many are driven, talented and dedicated people to their craft, they too are bound by other pressures. They work like you and I. Some have managers/supervisors who are great, others probably hate having to work under a boss that is less than ideal.
And though Ninja pretty much says that Bioware could have done some things differently across the full spectrum of issues, it's also true that there are other things that essentially couldn't be changed anymore. Even if sometimes a product ends up being of a poorer quality, just to save some face you have to suck it up, stand by it and take the punches.
Whether EA or Bioware was to blame for something that was rushed... no one is ever going to know. And at this point... it's really pointless to discuss. They can't recall it, and that would be just plain stupid to do.
Again to what Ninja said... players that continuously vented and ranted and raved didn't help matters either with threats. And it's true alot of this was likely cyclical in nature. A catch 22. While some were very constructive in their reviews and no doubt helped point many things out, those who hindered the process didn't really give any incentive to push out any responses. Which in turn made more people angry and again kept Bioware from daring to say anything fearing that no matter what could be said wouldn't matter.
I very much love the products I've had a chance to play of bioware's. And I will admit I was a dissatisfied player, but my critiques of the game I tried to bring solid points and reasons to what was good or bad rather than complain something didn't go the way I wanted it to. it can be difficult to pull yourself out fo your own emotional shoes and try to see it from the other side, or from an outside perspective.
I will also admitt I would have liked to ahve seen more back and forth feedback on their part. Get some insights to how they envisioned something or to have questions posed that would perhaps offer a chance for more indepth responses, but... one can never be sure if you're dealing with an over the top emotional fan or a person who is willing to give and take to better the product rather than just chew some's ear off.
Many things could have been handled infinitely better on both sides from the start
I've no doubt I will buy another Bioware title, but what I will also admitt is that it won't be on blind faith. I will cautiously research it first.
I remember when I first bought ME1... it was simply to fill in a gaming gap while waiting for a new game release. I had no idea what it was or what it was about. Had never heard of it. Graphics looked interesting, and I generally loved Sci-Fi and the apparent RPG element it had so I gave it a shot. I was blown away. ME2 very nearly did the same thing.
it is the difficult thing about sequels.... not only are you competiting to make a better game than your competitors... but with sequels you have to compete with making the next in the series 100 times better than the one before it. it can be difficult to do when you have to keep raising that bar.
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